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Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Alito Hearings, Day One

My impression from the first day of the Alito confirmation hearing is that Ted Kennedy needs to retire, Russ Feingold is going to run for President, the GOP needs to ask questions, not make statements, and the entire panel is outclassed. Transcripts part 1 here and part 2 here.

Herb Kohl, for his part, has blown the cover of the Democrats who claim they don't really want activist judges. He basically stated that Alito should agree that sometimes judges need to find things that aren't in the Constitution. At least that's out in the open now :)

I was waiting for Feinstein or Specter to jump up and down and demand that Alito admit he wants Roe overturned. It was actually pretty funny watching them reword the same question over and over looking for a new answer.

Feingold in attempting to trap Alito on the ethics of Vanguard, took most of his 1990 promise out of context. Orin Hatch was kind enough to correct him, and put him in the corner with Kennedy, who's opening statements of yesterday were destroyed by the GOP.

I thought Lindsay Graham was a waste of time, he spent his 30 minutes basically making political statements, and not asking answerable questions. Wrong forum Senator, do it during open remarks during the normal Senate sessions.

Joe Biden gets the award for the longest question, using over 1/3 of his time on one question. As one talking head noted "When he was done asking the question no one knew what the question was, or if he'd asked one."

5Comments:

Almost all of the Democrat senators (and Lindsey Graham) think they are more important than they are. I have no idea why Graham was making those statements during the hearings either. Psycho!! Alito has more "intellectual firepower" than them all.

Alito is doing very well and should be confirmed. I really can't see why not to confirm him. He has said he would honor precedent, referring specifically to the case that led directly to Roe. Democrats can choose to disbelieve him on that, but what evidence can they present? A twenty year old statement of belief that there is no right to abortion in the Constitution. Hardly binding. I'm a weak-kneed liberal, so my views and opinions have changed over the course of twenty years. It's reasonable to assume Alito has changed, as well.

Alito's going to sail through, as he should. Generally, as long as there is no scandal attached to a nominee, I believe all Presidents--Democrats and Republicans--have a right to see their judicial nominees seated on the courts.

Matthew, I agree, he should sail through, and they've had enough time to find a real scandal if it was there. I didn't like Clinton's nominees being stonewalled, though it was done in a little more honest way (no majority in committee to get to the floor). I'd actually like to see a filibuster, and Nuclear/Constitutional option vote to get rid of that option on judges. Both sides would have to debate them, regardless of who the nominator was.

LMC, I agree on the psycho on Graham today. Feinstein cracks me up too. I'm not sure if she's a lawyer like many senators. But if she is, I don't want her defending me.

Shoprat- It's too bad that you are right. Unfortunately, as Kohl pointed out, some want them to make or "discover" rights, as opposed to interpretting laws against the Constitution.

I don't think the Democrats are going to filibuster. They'd be stupid to give the GOP a reason to use the Nuclear Option. Plsu, they just don't seem particularly exercised about Alito. I like it. Republicans were expecting a fight--I hope Democrats disappoint them.

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"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature who can never be free except made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." --John Stuart Mill